Flu season is well under way, bringing with it plenty of people suffering through awful symptoms, and even more medical professionals wishing that the general public would take better safety precautions. Frustrated after a long shift, one ER nurse has gone viral for her frank take on educating people about avoiding the flu.

Advertisement

"If you're not aware of how the flu is spread, the only way you can get it is through your eyes, your nose, or your mouth," said Florida mom and nurse Katherine Smith Lockler in her video. Surprisingly perky, Locker recalled several instances she'd witnessed at work where people showed blatant disregard for the fact that they were spreading the flu. "There is a cesspool of funky flu at the ER right now."

Speaking hypothetically, Lockler suggested that folks refrain from bringing healthy people into the ER, as this only increases their chances of catching and spreading the flu. "Please don't bring your team in. Please don't bring your healthy children -- especially your newborn babies -- into the emergency room," she said. "If you don't have what I call a true emergency, this would not be the time to come to the emergency room."

When it comes to preventing the flu from spreading at home, Lockler has a pretty simple solution. "Wash your stinking hands so you don't get all your babies sick."

The nurse even gave a sarcastic demonstration of how to properly keep from spreading germs when sneezing and coughing -- since so many apparently have a difficult time grasping the concept. "Watch this -- I'm going to teach you all a magic trick. It's amazing," she says as she raises an elbow up to cover her mouth in a common move recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In an interview with the Pensecola News Journal, Lockler said she made the video to shed light on some common bad health behaviors she was seeing in the ER. "The biggest problem for me was seeing people come in to visit and not only being exposed to this awful flu virus, but not taking the correct precautions to get themselves disinfected before going out in the world."

Luckily, the method seems to have worked. With the video gaining 5.5 million views and 109,000 shares in just a few days, it seems people are loving her frank advice.

Experts are calling this year's flu season the worst in a long time. "As of this week, overall hospitalizations are now the highest we've seen in nearly a decade," the CDC's acting director, Anne Schuchat, told reporters on Friday, according to the Washington Post. This means that Lockler is absolutely right to insist that people start taking better preventative measures.

According to the CDC, healthy people should avoid contact with those who are sick while sick people should limit contact with those who are healthy. People should be sure to cover their mouths and noses with tissues or sleeves when coughing or sneezing and wash their hands very often throughout the day.

Lockler ended her video by asking others to send support to all of the medical professionals working overtime during flu season. "Please thank an ER nurse -- and every nurse and doctor [who] is taking care of sick people right now," she said. "We're putting ourselves into the thick of some nasty germs to help."